Two hurt in shooting incident near to Sussex college

Dozens of police officers swooped on College Road, Crawley after shots were fired near to Crawley College.

In a statement, police said two people were hurt and a man was detained after the incident, which happened around 3pm today.

Police are urging people to avoid the area, which one eyewitness said was ‘swarming’ with emergency services.

Owen Smith-Carretero told this newspaper there were police ‘everywhere’.

Owen said: “There were police everywhere. They were like ants. There was a helicopter flying above.

“Ambulance there, three or for incident response units.”

The parking attendant added that no one knew what had caused the large response in College Road.

Owen, 21, said: “They were swarming. They were walking up and down the road about 30-35 police officers, dozens of police cars and emergency vehicles.”

The police statement in full said: “Police have responded to reports of gun shot fire near Crawley College.

“Police received multiple calls shortly after 3.10pm. One man has been detained at the scene by police.

“People are asked to stay away from the area.

“Staff and students are being evacuated away from the college. Two people have suffered injuries, but these are not believed to be serious.

“We will provide further information as soon as we can.”

A spokeswoman for the college said: “We are aware of an incident at Crawley College this afternoon.

“Sussex Police are present on the scene and a man has been detained. We are awaiting further information from the Police.

“We are not aware of any serious injuries. Our priority remains the safety of students & staff.”

She added that staff and students are now being evacuated from the area.

Police earlier were called to the incident at around 3pm where two people suffered minor injuries.

An ambulance service spokesman added: “We can confirm we were called to Crawley College along with police at approximately 3.10pm today. Ambulance crews attended the scene and treated two patients for minor injuries before they were taken to hospital locally for further treatment.”